omen of Other Worlds is a feminist science fiction collection
that includes stories, book excerpts, critical articles, poetry, memoirs,
and even a recipe (by Eileen Gunn) for an Ideologically Labile Fruit
Crisp. Conceived at WisCon 20 (WisCon is an annual convention that's billed as "the
gathering of the feminist SF community"), many of the pieces
were read--in first draft form--at panels. The result is a book that
conveys the energy of a good convention to readers who were unable to
attend.
Edited by Helen Merrick and Tess Williams, Women of Other Worlds
contains stories by (among others): Kelley Eskridge, Nalo Hopkinson, Suzette
Haden Elgin, Candas Jane Dorsey, and Karen Joy Fowler. (Editor's Note: Nalo
Hopkinson is a book reviewer for Science Fiction Weekly.)
It also has essays by
writers including Nicola Griffith, Pat Murphy, and Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
The non-fiction topics range from the history of feminist fandom to gender
identity and the many personas of James Tiptree Jr. The information is presented
in formal academic essays and in excerpts from online discussions. Ursula
Le Guin's guest of honor speech addresses her identity as an older woman in
a youth-worshipping world.
Other women SF writers are indirectly included: Rebecca Holden's essay
talks about the cyberpunk of Pat Cadigan and Melissa Scott, and Jennifer
Stevenson examines potential therapeutic uses of Suzy McKee Charnas' novella
"Beauty and the Opera." Octavia Butler and Lois McMaster Bujold's work
undergo similar scholarly examination. And for readers who--upon reaching
the end of the book--wish for still more, there is a supplementary
bibliography and a recommended reading section that lists a variety of books
from Chicks in Chainmail to the works of Connie Willis.
Light-hearted and fun
The range of material in Women of Other Worlds means, naturally,
that no reader is destined to enjoy every single piece in the book. However,
the general tone of the works in this exceptional collection is playful
without being frivolous. This is a book that takes itself seriously without
losing its sense of fun. The Le Guin essay is laugh-out-loud hilarious, as
is a deconstruction of gender identity by Rosaleen Love. This
collection offers political subversion at its best--sly, cheerful, ready and
capable of undermining old myths through the time-honored device of making
them obviously ridiculous.
Much of the fiction included in the collection is fabulous. Nalo
Hopkinson's "A Habit of Waste" is delightful and affirming, while Elisabeth
Vonarburg's "Home by the Sea" succeeds in capturing the tricky dynamic of
mother-daughter relationships. The real show-stealer is Kelley Eskridge's
"And Salome Danced," a horrific and erotic tale that plays with readers'
expectations of gender. An on-line analysis of the story by a number of
writers is included afterward, enabling readers to first experience the
story and then illuminate and inform their reactions to it.
Having said that, this collection is not for everyone--readers
who aren't interested in gender politics should stay far away. Additionally, the
playful spirit of most of the included works leaves the few serious
essays looking dry and out of place. But Women of Other Worlds is for
the most part a glorious success, the kind of book to be devoured whole and then
revisited again and again.
This book is absolutely bursting with cool stuff. It's like consuming a
delicious cheesecake and finding, retroactively, that it was high-fiber and
utterly good for you.
-- Alyx
hen The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction reached its 30th anniversary in 1979, the publisher celebrated by releasing an anthology that included classic stories which had appeared in the magazine's pages through the years. This month F&SF turns 50, and many might have expected another retrospective anthology to mark the occasion. In his introduction to this book,
co-editor Gordon Van Gelder reveals that such a project was indeed discussed. Van Gelder writes, however, that many of the great stories of past decades are
widely anthologized, which isn't the case with stories from more recent issues of the magazine (the last
Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction volume was published five years
ago). The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Fiftieth
Anniversary Anthology concentrates on this recent period in the
magazine's history, from 1993 to 1998, collecting 20 stories and one of
Paul Di Filippo's "Plumage from Pegasus" columns.
Van Gelder writes that throughout the magazine's 50 years, the only
formula the editors of F&SF have followed is to try to find and
publish the best fantastic literature available. This anthology is
characteristic of the magazine's diversity, containing stories ranging from
anthropological science fiction (Ursula K. Le Guin's "Solitude") to fairy
tales (Rachel Pollak's "The Fool, the Stick, and the Princess"). About all
that's missing is hard SF and medieval fantasy. The stories
selected display F&SF's longstanding preference for stories with an
emphasis on literary values and precise writing, a founding principle of
the magazine.
The anthology contains several major award winners, including Nebula
Award winners "Last Summer at Mars Hill" by Elizabeth Hand, Le Guin's
"Solitude," "Lifeboat on a Burning Sea" by Bruce Holland Rogers, and "A
Birthday" by Esther M. Friesner. Other important stories include Bruce
Sterling's "Maneki Neko," Gene Wolfe's "No Planets Strike," S. N. Dyer's
"Sins of the Mothers," John Crowley's "Gone," Robert Reed's "First
Tuesday," Bradley Denton's "We Love Lydia Love," Dale Bailey's "Quinn's
Way," Terry Bisson's "The Partial People," and a pair by two SF legends,
Harlan Ellison's "Sensible City" and Ray Bradbury's "Another Fine
Mess."
Not quite a retrospective, but still great
Although Van Gelder's explanation for assembling this five-year collection--rather than a 50-year retrospective--does have some merit, it seems that a wider ranging F&SF anthology
would have been well worth creating. Still, it's hard to be disappointed with
the results of their decision. The Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction:
The Fiftieth Anniversary Anthology is an outstanding anthology. Almost
every story is an expertly crafted, distinctive piece that showcases how
vibrant and elegant fantastic literature can be in the hands of its best
writers.
Le Guin's "Solitude," in which the daughter of an anthropologist grows
up knowing only the primitive culture her mother is studying, is the best
story in the book. It's a very personal, and ultimately very painful,
story of cultural separation within a family. Hand's "Last Summer on Mars
Hill" is a character-driven story, in which two teenagers with dying
parents console each other during a summer at a magical New England
commune. Crowley's "Gone" takes a different, and brilliant, approach
to the alien invasion story, intertwining the anxieties in a woman's life
with the persistence of aliens trying to convince humans to accept their
vague offers to take over.
Bailey's "Quinn's Way" is another fine character-driven story that explores
domestic abuse in a small West Virginia town in the 1940s. McHugh's "The
Lincoln Train" takes an alternate approach to alternate
history, focusing on the effects on individuals in a post-Civil War world
in which Lincoln survives the assassination attempt, but is incapacitated.
One of the more provocative and unusual pieces is Bisson's short-short,
"The Partial People," a viciously elegant satire in the tradition (though
not the style) of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal."
All in all The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Fiftieth Anniversary Anthology is a wonderful celebration of the recent history of one of science fiction's great magazines.
I started reading F&SF just before its 30th anniversary, and
still have the retrospective anthology published back then. It doesn't
seem like that long ago.
-- Clint
omen of Other Worlds is a feminist science fiction collection
that includes stories, book excerpts, critical articles, poetry, memoirs,
and even a recipe (by Eileen Gunn) for an Ideologically Labile Fruit
Crisp. Conceived at WisCon 20 (WisCon is an annual convention that's billed as "the
gathering of the feminist SF community"), many of the pieces
were read--in first draft form--at panels. The result is a book that
conveys the energy of a good convention to readers who were unable to
attend.
